Orchestrating a sales incentive program for more than 45 offices around the world is no easy task. “We’re in 22 countries, so whenever you’re trying to come up with an incentive item, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘OK, this will work here in the United States, but how will it play in Africa?’” says Crystal Oakes, director of branding for Trévo, a nutritional supplement company that has 200,000 sales reps worldwide.

Not only are cultural tastes and preferences different in each country, Oakes says, but many of the company’s reps work out of their homes, so logoed items like desk accessories aren’t always appropriate.

Oakes often works with a distributor to come up with unique logoed apparel items to add to Trévo’s sales incentive program and the many incentive trips it offers throughout the world. Until recently, Oakes says, the company stuck to the tried-and-true apparel basics, like black polo shirts with embroidered logos. “We decided we needed to do something different to shake things up a little,” Oakes says.

Oakes and her distributor partner teamed up and created T-shirts screen printed with the company’s brand message in metallic ink on both the front and back. The company offered the shirts to reps who paid in full for their orders by a certain date. “In many countries, our reps have to stand in line for hours and pay cash in advance for their products, so it’s important to offer an attractive incentive,” Oakes says.

Luckily, reps found the incentive very attractive. Oakes says Trévo saw a large spike in orders as a result of the incentive. But the best part? “Our sales force was so funked up about the shirts, particularly our reps in Africa. I’ve never seen any like it before,” Oakes says. Just a day or two after the company started giving out the shirts, Oakes says, reps all over the country were sending pictures of themselves wearing it, and posting photos on social media as well.

In addition, the company recently hosted an incentive trip in Turks & Caicos for 30 sales reps throughout the world, and most of the recipients came off the plane wearing their new metallic shirts. “That’s when I knew this was the best promotion we’d ever done,” Oakes says. “Not only did we get lots of our salespeople super excited, but now they’re getting our name out there wherever they go. That’s pretty exciting.”